We Will Rock You

May wrote the song after an audience at Bingley Hall in Stafford sang You'll Never Walk Alone back at the band following an encore on the A Day at the Races tour. He called it quite an emotional experience and said the chant-like songs were in some way connected with it. He kept it simple on purpose, so a crowd could take part. There are no drums. The band stamped on the Wessex Studios drum podium and clapped, overdubbing themselves many times, then added delay so it sounded as if many people were taking part. May's guitar solo ends with a phrase that repeats three times, done with a tape loop. Backing vocals came from the band and crew.

It opens News of the World and was the B-side of the We Are the Champions single. A faster version was recorded for John Peel on 28 October 1977 at Maida Vale and opened Queen's live sets from the News of the World Tour until 1982. A live recording was issued as a US and Japanese single in August 1979. The band shot a video in the snow in Taylor's back garden and did three takes. The two songs were the last Queen played at Live Aid in 1985. Rolling Stone ranked it 330 in its 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs, and it joined the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.

Afterlife

The beat has been sampled and borrowed by Ice Cube in 1992 and by Eminem in Till I Collapse in 2002, among others. Queen + Adam Lambert opened the Platinum Party at the Palace on 4 June 2022 with it, introduced by a comedy sketch in which Queen Elizabeth II and Paddington Bear tapped their teacups to the rhythm.